Japanese artisans are renowned for their ingenuity and attention to detail. In the past, we’ve talked about how some of the country’s traditional art is made, such as kiri-e, gold leaf, and plastic display food, and it never fails to impress us.

But have you ever wondered how more modern forms of art, such as plastic figures, cosplay, and accessory-making, are achieved? Thanks to a new hashtag that’s been gaining traction on Twitter, users now have the opportunity to see how a little bit of material and a whole lot of skill can go a long way.Read More

What do you like to do when you travel? Eat local cuisine? Visit famous landmarks?

Sure, those are all fine. But for me, one thing I always look forward to doing whenever I travel somewhere new is getting a haircut there. I know it sounds crazy, but each place really does have its own distinct style, different atmosphere, and unique way of getting your hair from head to floor.

Wasai, one of our Japanese writers, is a man after my own heart. He recently went on a trip to Cuba, and while he was there, one of the top items on his to-do list was to get a haircut. Did it end up as a failure or fabulous? Read on to find out!

Here on the internet, where many of us virtually live, there’s little we love more than a good tale of transformation. Whether it’s through the use of clever make-up and camera angles to achieve a gorgeous face, or whether it’s a full-body overhaul, there’s something uplifting about living vicariously through other people’s success stories.

Today we’d like to share with you the tale of one woman in China who transformed herself from couch potato tofitness instructor in just three years, losing almost half her body weight in the process.

Anime changes lives, and we have the photographs to prove it. Who doesn’t love a good tale of transformation complete with shocking before and afters? One man showcases his change from chain-smoking drunk to dedicated otaku, but was it really a change for the better?

While it’s hard to believe, not everyone is born fitting perfectly into the extremely high (and sometimes, a little repetitive) standards of what a person “should” look like. Recently, some Korean net users were reminded of this little fact of life when they came across photos of a gorgeously curvaceous South Korean fitness instructor during her days as a cute girl-next-door type.

Not believing the woman could become this dramatically beautiful without the help of a good plastic surgeon, the before and after pics sparked a debate about beauty standards and why we care so much about how we look. Click below to see more photos of the fitness guru who went from cute to va-va-voom.

We’re all used to seeing those before-and-after photos of plain jane (or even, let’s be honest, um, “conventionally unattractive”) Asian girls transforming themselves into gorgeous swans through the use of cosmetics. But did you ever stop to think about those girls’ lives? What kind of bullying and social pressure drove them to devote themselves so entirely to relying on the contents of their makeup bags?

Today we’d like to introduce you to a young lady whose “before” face has made her the victim of a barrage of cruel tweets. But is she bothered? Not one bit!

There’s another batch of shocking “before and after” pics of plastic surgery doing the rounds: transformation pictures of Chinese women, accompanied by captions listing the procedures the women have had, from double eyelid surgery to rhinoplasty.

I’m not a doctor, but I do have eyes, and surgery is not the only thing going on in these pictures. There are heaps of other factors that make these amazing post-surgery photos look better than the “before” shots. Here are but a few.

There has been a lot of talk online in Japan recently about Rina Nanase. Known as Rumi Kanda in her adult video days, the young model has been surprisingly open about turning to plastic surgery to change the shape of her face.

In a process that she began chronicling via Twitter late last year, Nanase has made a number of changes to her eyes, nose, and chin. Now that she has shared photos of her “finished” look, however, many are calling it “way too much,” with some even suggesting that she now resembles the character Dobby from the Harry Potter movies.

While cosmetic surgery is the certainly one of the most dramatic ways to change your physical appearance, not everyone is willing to spend the money–or lose the flesh–for a new look. And if you happen to be a bit indecisive, going under the knife probably isn’t a very good idea. Fortunately, there’s always that ancient magic that humanity has used for millennia: make-up!

There’s no doubting the power of make-up–it’s one of the oldest human institutions and widely used in nearly every known society. And even today, it still manages to maintain a slight allure of mystery–there’s something almost scandalous about seeing someone “without their face on.” Which makes finding this huge compendium of before and after photos all the more fascinating!

If you have been paying attention to South Korean pop culture, then you are probably already aware of the huge popularity of plastic surgery as evident by some startling before-and-after images. Plastic surgery is fast becoming as Korean as kimchi, soju or Samsung as one in five women there admit to going under the knife in the name of beauty.

But while seeing before-and-after images demonstrate a surgeon’s skill, you may not be seeing the long and probably very painful process that goes on in between the two pictures. A Korean woman recently posted the many stages of her recovery after plastic surgery, which provides a much-needed context about the lengths people go for the sake of beauty. Click below to see how she looked while her body healed from the procedure!

You are, no doubt, aware of the enormous popularity of cosmetic surgery in South Korea. While public opinion on the procedures is still split, we definitely feel that, hey, it’s your body, so do what you want!

Nevertheless, it can be quite startling at times to see just how much a skilled surgeon can do. From the Japanese woman transforming herself into a living porcelain doll to the images of South Korean cosmetic surgery we showed you earlier this year, we are always amazed by the possibilities opened up by a carefully wielded scalpel, and the following collection of images is no exception.

At first we weren’t entirely convinced that this was the same girl in both pictures. They’re just so… different. Look closely though, and beneath those layers (and layers) of makeup and the fake eyelashes, you’ll see that it really is the the selfsame young lady. Her little mole is there; her duck-face smile curls in the exact same way; the shape of her jaw and cheeks are the same. But, just, wow. Welcome to the world of “power makeup”.

We’ve all seen those “before and after” images in ads popping up online or towards the back of magazines. Liposuction, bigger breasts, smaller nose, hair replacement, breast reduction, wrinkle removal, neck flaps for speed underwater; whatever the goal of the surgery more often than not the post-op photographs are shot from much more flattering angles and under softer light in an attempt to prove that the surgery was a complete success.

Although one or two of the following images are guilty of similar crimes, they are nevertheless undeniably shocking. We’d never dream of telling people what they can and can’t do with their own bodies,but you’ll have to forgive us for having gasped when we first laid eyes on these pre and post-op images. Some of them are so different that we started to wonder whether we were looking at the same people.